Reinventing Finance with Hyperliquid: A Founder’s Vision
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has for many years sought to establish an economical system that is accessible to all, fair, and resistant to shocks. In a video interview titled “Hyperliquid Founder: How to Win in Crypto by Building for Users, Not VCs,” Jeff Yan, the co-founder of Hyperliquid, discusses how his platform is designed to deliver on this promise. His philosophy can be summarized as follows: He puts the user before the profit, works from first principles and redefines what infrastructure means in crypto.
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From Quant Trading to Founding Hyperliquid
The first foray of Jeff into crypto trading was quant trading. Having built a successful trading system he observed the weakness and exploitative nature of the centralised finance. The collapse of FTX was a major incident that made him believe that the world was ready for a decentralized finance. The belief that led to the creation of Hyperliquid was not for the purpose of establishing a business but rather for fulfilling a mission.
Why No VC Funding?
It is a sector filled with projects that have been backed by venture capitals, yet Hyperliquid is different as it has no VC involvement. According to Jeff, the traditional funding models are problematic because they distort the incentives of the platforms which results in them serving investors rather than users. Hyperliquid is self-funded and every penny made is plowed back into the ecosystem. This is actually a genuine user-first experience as opposed to the normal scenario where the adoption is based on marketing rather than utility.
Technological Architecture: Beyond Smart Contracts
The operation of Hyperliquid is based on a Layer 1 blockchain that has native financial primitives. This design allows developers to connect to an ecosystem that provides the high performance of centralized exchanges while at the same time providing the transparency of decentralized protocols. One of the most innovative products it has come up with is Builder Codes which enable developers to monetize financial applications through protocol level mechanisms.
The AWS of Liquidity
In ambition as well as structure, Jeff considers Hyperliquid as AWS. Just as AWS made the underlying cloud infrastructure invisible to users, Hyperliquid makes liquidity invisible to application developers. This composability and neutrality are meant to unleash innovation across regions and use cases.
Hyperliquid Referral Code
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Addressing Crypto’s Core Flaws
Jeff is very bitter at how much of the crypto industry has become a means of robbing users. He details how past scams like ICOs have developed into more complex schemes like VC-backed projects that sell tokens to retail investors. Hyperliquid’s design does not succumb to these traps because of the transparency, no-fee trading, and tokenomics model that does not favor insiders.
Builder-First, Regionally Empowered
Hyperliquid is built for builders. It could be a mobile wallet, a local exchange, or a DeFi app, anybody can build on top of Hyperliquid and get access to its liquidity pool. This approach decentralizes growth, culturally tailored financial services can thus be developed and grow in underserved regions.
A Philosophy of Hard Work and Long-Term Thinking
According to Jeff, it is the process of creating something that is hard and that matters that gives one satisfaction. It is like a workout—every day is a pain but the payoff is sweet in the long run. Hyperliquid isn’t just building a better exchange, it’s building a financial ecosystem that could last for decades.
Decentralization as a Necessary Evolution
According to Jeff Yan, the root cause of failure and mistrust in finance is centralization which was exposed by the FTX collapse. He posits that DeFi is not only a technological upgrade but a necessary social shift towards systems that put control and transparency of individuals first. Hyperliquid is attempting to bring centralized exchange performance to decentralized ideals with the creation of a truly user-owned financial infrastructure.
Hyperliquid’s Unique Architecture
Hyperliquid functions as a high-performance decentralized exchange operating on its own Layer 1 blockchain. Most chains focus on smart contracts only, but Hyperliquid goes deep into financial primitives integration. The platform enables developers to develop applications that can hook into a powerful neutral backend system which offers Binance-like liquidity alongside Ethereum-like transparency.
Builder Codes: A New Paradigm for Developers
Builder Codes stands out as one of Hyperliquid’s primary innovations because it gives developers full control to create custom trading interfaces as well as regional exchanges and financial apps while determining their revenue streams. The protocol-native monetization system allows users to approve the monetization while keeping incentives focused on value creation instead of value extraction.
Experimenting with No VCs and Fee-Free Protocol
Hyperliquid launched as a crypto project without ever accepting VC funding that most projects need. The decision eliminates the possibility of early stakeholders demanding profit from the project. The community receives revenue exceeding $25 million while the protocol does not take any trading fees. The crypto-based model takes its cues from Amazon’s customer-obsessed strategy but executes it within a completely open crypto system.
Market Fit Beyond Speculation
According to Jeff, the growth of Hyperliquid is not sustained by token incentives or yield farming. Instead, he shows that user volume is organic and increases with broader market activity, indicating real product-market fit. This is compared to projects that create artificial growth through VC-funded marketing and speculation-driven rewards.
Philosophical Underpinning: First Principles and Scarcity of Attention
Jeff believes in first principles thinking which leads to decisions such as not using traditional growth marketing or social media engagement. In his view, the focus should be on creating products that users enjoy instead of going after hype. The reason for his low media profile is because he wants results to speak for Hyperliquid rather than noise.
Global Vision with Local Strategy
The mass adoption of DeFi requires regional exchanges that meet local needs according to Jeff. The Hyperliquid backend system enables local entrepreneurs to create culturally relevant frontends for the exchanges. Through this decentralized method, the growth strategy moves beyond the technology level to promote financial inclusion across the globe.
The Philosophy of Doing Hard Things
According to Jeff, every day’s struggle toward a meaningful goal brings him fulfillment. He draws the analogy from working out and states that pain signals development. Building such a complex system as Hyperliquid is a painful but rewarding experience compared to the empty success of early retirement or passive trading.
Contrast with Industry Norms
Hyperliquid operates as a complete opposite of the rest of crypto culture according to Jeff which he describes as extractive and short-term. According to him, many protocols are made for insiders and not for users due to ICO scams and VC-pumped tokens. Hyperliquid aims to redefine the standard by providing value-first products that work for all stakeholders.
Hyperliquid as the AWS of Liquidity
AWS provided developers with abstracted cloud infrastructure which allowed them to concentrate on developing applications while Hyperliquid provides developers with abstracted liquidity and trading mechanics for the same purpose. Hyperliquid aims to evolve into a base layer of a new financial system which enables anyone to construct exchange-level products.
Conclusion
Hyperliquid is a new vision for DeFi, user-centric, transparent and focused on real value. They are building a future where finance is more equitable, efficient and accessible to all by rejecting VC funding, focusing on infrastructure and empowering builders. It is possible that as the ecosystem expands, Hyperliquid may well turn out to be the base upon which the next generation of financial applications will be constructed.
